A key prosecution witness in Rodney Hinton Jr.'s murder trial testified Oct. 13 that evidence including data from Hinton's car showed that he intentionally drove into a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy last year.
Prosecutors are asking a jury in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to find Hinton, 40, guilty of charges including aggravated murder. But until a crash reconstructionist testified Oct. 13, the fourth day of testimony, jurors had not heard significant evidence showing why prosecutors say it was an intentional act.
Cincinnati police Specialist Mike Flamm testified that Hinton first stopped the Ford Focus in a turn lane on Martin Luther King Drive near Burnet Woods and waited approximately 15 seconds for oncoming traffic to clear.
Henderson,
who was helping pedestrians cross the street near the University of Cincinnati, was standing on a traffic island, next to a utility pole. The crash happened the afternoon of May 2, 2025, a day when UC graduation ceremonies were happening and students were moving out.
According to Flamm, video taken from a nearby shuttle bus along with the car's event data recorder showed Hinton suddenly accelerate toward Deputy Larry Henderson. He said Hinton "kept his vehicle on a course" directly at Henderson.
When Henderson tried to move away, Flamm said the car's data indicated that Hinton turned the steering wheel "hard and aggressive" toward the deputy.
Hinton's car reached a maximum speed of about 45 mph, the data showed.
Hinton's car struck Henderson and the utility pole almost simultaneously, Flamm said. Henderson was thrown 25 feet.
Under questioning from Hinton's attorney, Clyde Bennett II, Flamm acknowledged that the evidence doesn't establish when Hinton saw Henderson.
When Bennett asked Flamm how he determined that Hinton was driving at Henderson − and not the utility pole, itself − Flamm said the center of the car struck Henderson, but the car's front right side struck the pole.
The evidence, Flamm said, showed that Hinton drove straight at Henderson, not the pole. After the collision, the car rotated about 90 degrees.
Also on Oct. 13, Bennett for the first time raised the possibility that Hinton's actions that day may have been a suicide attempt. Hinton has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder.
Defense calls witnesses
After Flamm's testimony, prosecutors rested their case. Bennett called his first witnesses, including a forensic psychologist who has found that Hinton did not know right from wrong at the time of the crash. Bennett is asking the jury to find Hinton not guilty by reason of insanity.
The psychologist, Maria Espinola, will continue her testimony on Oct. 14. Prosecutors also are expected to call their own psychological experts to testify.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Crash reconstructionist says man intentionally drove at sheriff's deputy
